Women's Running Expo

Just got back from the expo. I actually went with a newbie runner (one of my girls from the running club at work that I conned into running the 5K). She was quite overwhelmed by the entire experience...so I thought maybe others would be as well, so I'll summarize the steps that we went through.

First, you follow the signs for "race packet pickup" and find your name on the board to identify your bib number. For a large race like this, emails are typically sent to the participants with their number, so no need to look it up...but in case you didn't bring your email and/or memorize it, the board is handy.

If you brought the email for pick-up, you simply sign/date the form. If you didn't, there were plenty of empty papers available to fill out.

We immediately got into line at the 5K table to pick up our bibs. The 5K tables are separate from the Half Marathon tables.....we received blue bibs and the others received pink bibs. I was hoping for pink, but alas, I can easily live with baby blue :) They took our signed consent form, checked our ID, handed us our bibs and encouraged us to steal four safety pins.

There are two tear-offs from the bibs received. The first one provides you a goody bag, which was adjacent to the bib pickup tables. We gathered our "oh so pink" designer goodie bag. So, what was in it? The pink bag, magazine with a TON of inserts (as usual), gu chomps, two dole snacks, emergen-c, softlips sugar & spice (nice), aquaphor sample, freeze-it sample. All in all, not bad.

The race shirt was picked up next...man, those run large. I requested a Medium, and it seemed definitely at least one size too big. Cute and simple...no advertisement on the back, which is a plus. I just wish I ordered a small....if it doesn't shrink, my daughter will gladly use it for PJs!

We then entered the expo. Immediately picked up some cute give-aways from Publix (one of the main sponsors). They provided a plastic flexible/foldable vase....yes, you heard that right. Fill this little pouch with water and it expands and holds its shape. If you are ever given a bouquet of flowers without a vase, you can immediately pull one out of your purse and say "voila!" ...everything is right with the world. Actually, this thing may come in handy at work when flowers are delivered to me...hint hint hubby :) Also, we received a pink Publix-logo "yowie" multi-functional headwear....I could use this in the winter maybe. You never know.

Next, we ventured over to the Sweaty Bands store. I do like their store set-up....easy to try everything on, which they encourage. But, more importantly, no shipping fee :) I picked up 3...couldn't resist. The more I run during lunch at work, the more I value a good headband to look ok in the afternoon. And yes, I know they are all polka dots...they simply attracted me today, what can I say?

After that major expense, I did view the Women's Running booth...didn't take a cover photo of their magazine, but did pick up a properly-sized medium shirt that was just too cute not to pass up. It is a nice cotton stretchy shirt (perfect with jeans or whatnot) that says "Live Laugh Run" and it was only $15...easy to justify :)

My pocket was empty after that, which is fine...because I didn't really NEED anything else. We did check out the current season items for RunningSkirts and SkirtSports, as well as added our names to a few chance lotteries. Who knows...maybe we will win a shopping spree at Fit2Run or SweatyBands!

All in all it was well organized. We did get in the registration line at 11am, which is when it opened, and while they were a little late opening the doors, everything was smooth. I cannot imagine what the place will look like after work today, so I'm very very pleased that we did it DURING lunch.

So, 2 more nights and we will be up at the crack of dawn ready to run!